To the End
by EJML-Isotope
Summary: Dangerous, sexy, mysterious...my perfect guy. Dangerous, sexy, mysterious...my perfect downfall. Friends have their twists and so does love. Will the coven be torn apart and stay apart, or will the coven be torn apart but then put back together again?


Just a little something I came up with last night at something like three o'clock in the morning but I was to drained to get out of bed and type it up. Never ever stay up for 22 hours straight, if you can help it, because you end up dropping like a sack of potatoes the next day. I should probably take my own advice but I know I won't. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Story starting now…

**Cassie POV.**

I walked slowly into the classroom, nervously twitching my black pleated skirt with my fingers. The soft yet crisp material brushed gently against the middle of my thighs.

The rhythmical thumping of my purple and black shoulder bag swinging into my knees with each step I took was the only comforting thing in the room.

Because he wasn't there.

He said he would be, but he wasn't.

Bitter disappointment flooded my body, making my hands clench into fists, and my knees tighten as if to absorb impact.

I sighed and blinked back irrational tears. I stormed over to my desk, which were two rows away but in the same line as his seat.

Hit vacant seat.

I liked sitting at the back of the room. You didn't have to worry about people throwing things at you, or sticking things on your back, or sneakily snatching your bag and hiding your possessions in various places in the room, or saying nasty things.

Things they had no right to be saying.

Other students started piling into the room. The girls were chatting and squealing about what they did last night and what they were planning to do tonight. The guys were yelling banter back and forth, teasing each other about someone dropping the ball in practice and this other guy being too whipped to even turn up at the game.

All sound stopped and this was when I knew that they had noticed me in the room. I concentrated on carefully pulling my chair out from my desk and sitting down, making sure I had my legs crossed and my skirt wasn't bunched up around my thighs. I concentrated on tugging my pencil case and book out of my bag, and setting them down perfectly on the smooth wooden table. I took extra care with tucking my bag under my chair and looping the handle round the seat so that no one could snatch it as they passed.

I didn't bother to look up at them, because I knew what I would see.

Hatred, disappointment, betrayal, disgust.

They were all on t_heir_ side. Without even knowing what was going on, they just chose _their_ side.

After a moment the plain classroom noise began again, as people hurried to their chairs. Conversations resumed. A girl was jabbering away in the seat next to me about her manicure that she got yesterday.

A guy on my other side yelled across the room at some girl about going on a date with her tonight.

And then it was obvious when t_hey_ walked into the classroom, because it fell silent and an air of admiration and nervousness coated the air, suffocating me.

And then a voice I really didn't want to hear rang out clearly in the classroom. A voice that made my blood run cold before she even finished her sentence. A voice that ceased all classroom noises with one small sentence, uttered in a husky sultry voice.

"But you're coming out with me tonight Jeffrey."

I cringed at the flirting lilt that her voice took on, and I cringed enough for both Jeffrey and me.

Jeffrey sure had his day cut out for him now that Faye was interested in him. And by interested I mean, she just wants something to play with for the night until she finds some other poor sod's life to destroy.

Jeffrey stiffened next to me. I could see out the corner of my eye that his back became rigid and his hands were closed into tight fists in his lap.

"I'm sorry," he said, in a barely controlled voice. "I don't know what you are talking about Faye."

Each step she took, her little high heels, (which I knew were going to be red without looking) made a loud clipping noise on the hard wooden floor. The whole class was deathly silent, almost painfully silent.

I unintentionally sank a little lower in my seat, bending my head so my brown hair fell forward, concealing my face. I managed to catch myself before I brought my hands up to cover my ears.

I hated the sound of her shoes hitting the floor every second or so, simply because that meant she was getting closer. And I wasn't satisfied unless Faye was at least a whole rooms length away from me.

"I know a fantastic spot down on the beach, under the pier." She murmured huskily.

My breath caught in my throat. _Calm down Cassie_, I told myself sternly. _She can't possibly know about last night. Just calm down._

"Especially late at night…" she continued, in that same low husky voice of hers.

I swallowed tightly, trying to remain calm and act as if she wasn't saying anything at all. _Just pretend she isn't there Cassie_, I chanted to myself fiercely.

"Things really heat up at night." I felt her eyes swing towards me, boring into the side of my concealed face. _Don't look, don't look, don't look_.

"Isn't that right Cassie?"

I stopped breathing, along with everyone else in the classroom.

_She can't know! She just can't know!_ I screamed in my head, trying to control the shock rippling down my spine.

"Please tell me its not true." I heard Diana whisper from across the room. I peeked up under my eyelashes and saw that Diana's beautiful face looked horrified.

The rest of the group, Doug, Chris, Laurel, Melanie, Adam, Deborah, Susan and Sean, all stared at me with mirrored looks of embarrassment and disgust on their faces.

I choked back a sob of despair. This wasn't supposed to happen!

"You know all about the pier and what's underneath it, and you know you shouldn't be there." Faye's voice taunted me, each word a viscous pin pricking my skin.

"What's it got to do with you Faye?" I snapped, with what I hoped was a steady bored voice.

She chuckled low in her throat at the same time Diana gasped.

"Looks like the cat's out of the bag once again, darling Cassie." Faye purred spitefully.

I stared at my desk, refusing to absorb the bit of information that had just been said.

_*Flashback*_

"_You shouldn't come here." Nick said tightly, as I ducked under the pier and sidled up next to him on the cool sand at the back of the pier. _

_A cool night's breeze was blowing gently outside but the pier shielded us from the wind. _

_I sat with my knees almost touching his but not quite. "Let's not start that again." I smiled at him._

_He groaned. "You're impossible." _

_I shook my head playfully at him. "And you're uncontrollable." _

_He looked at me, his cool eyes meeting mine. Delicious shivers shot up and down my spine and arms._

_We chatted about random things…the weather, the beach…I decided that it was best to keep things light for tonight, since the past week I had been meeting him for had been pretty intense, with him telling me what actually happened to get him kicked out of the coven and from him telling me about why I shouldn't be here and why I should stop seeing him, which of course, I ignored._

_It was nice. But then I went and blurted out, "I think you should come to school tomorrow." _

_He looked at me sharply. I stared back, pleading with my eyes for him to listen to me._

"_No." his reply was blunt. _

"_But_" I began desperately._

"_I know what you're thinking and it won't work. They will believe what they want to believe and nothing is going to change that- not even you." He gave me a meaningful stare, releasing the full force of his eyes on me_

_I was momentarily dazzled but then I replied with a chirpy, "We'll see about that." I stood up from the cool sand and shivered slightly. _

_The air had gotten colder as the night drew out. I moved to duck out from under the pier and under the direct blanket of the night but Nick caught my arm and yanked me backwards, pushing me up against the rough wooden wall of the pier._

_I stared up at him. _

"_Don't do anything stupid Cassie, not for me." He said. His hands were pressing my shoulders back against the wood and his thighs were flush with mine._

"_You shouldn't think so little of yourself Nick." I said gently, slipping my hands up to cover his._

_He narrowed his eyes at me. "And you shouldn't be so quick to think that I wouldn't betray anyone." He retorted._

_I gritted my teeth. "Stop trying to make yourself seem like a bad guy! I'm going to kill them all, they shouldn't put you done like this, its wrong! Your lacking self esteems!" _

"_Cassie." He whispered. _

_I stopped talking, or ranting I should say. _

_He dipped his head closer to mine, and I gulped as his lips neared mine. Just as I closed my eyes and I felt his warm breath against my lips, he quickly moved his head so that his lips hit my neck._

"_You shouldn't come here Cassie. I'm bad for you." And then he gently yet forcefully pushed my out into the cool night air._

I was pulled out of the memory by Deborah's fierce voice shattering the air.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted her to begin with." Deborah spat. "She could never be one of us. Just like _he_ could never be one of us. They're both low lives. Scum. Worthless_"

"Shut up!" I growled, my protective side rising to the surface when it came to Nick.

They had no right to say anything about Nick. They knew nothing.

"Yes Deborah, shut up." Faye repeated. I could her the smirk in her voice. "So tell me Cassie, what exactly did you an Nick get up to this time?"

The whole class gasped, a shocked harsh sound vibrating round the room.

"We just talked. I don't see why we have to treat him like a leper. He's a human being Faye. Meaning that he has feelings. I know it may be hard for you to understand since you are physically incapable of showing any emotion other than lust and bitchiness, but it is possible to feel hurt, and angered, and frustrated, and regretful." I looked up at her, flicking my hair out of my eyes. "And boy does he feel regretful."

"And so he should!" Deborah exploded from across the room. "He's a_"

"Oh," I interrupted casually. "I wasn't referring to him feeling sorry for what he did to you guys. If I remember correctly he never actually did anything to you guys." I met Adam's eyes briefly, and he tensed, looking extremely uncomfortable. So he should, the traitorous jerk. "I was thinking more along the lines of him feeling regretful that he wasted a month of his life dating this skank over here." I jabbed my thumb at Faye.

She hissed. Actually hissed. "You think he hated dating me? You stupid girl. I was the best thing that ever happened to him! I gave him everything! I made him something while he still had some respect in this group. Then he threw it all away! He betrayed us_"

I lashed my body round in my seat to face her. "No he never! He never betrayed anyone! You think you know it all Faye but you know nothing!" I shouted.

"Oh, and I suppose you think you know him oh-so-well, do you?" she seethed.

"Well, yeah!" I yelled. "I actually know what he's thinking, how he is feeling, what actually happened. And you want to know how I know that?" I glared at the girl in front of me. "I actually listen to him!"

"He doesn't care for you! He will never care for you!" she swept her gaze over me, analysing me. "You will never be good enough for him! You're nothing Cassie Blake. You're just the girl next door that had to get involved with us. You don't mean anything- to anybody!" she folded her arms over her chest, looking victorious and…godly.

I swooped abruptly out of my chair, yanking my bag up off the floor with me. I threw my things into it and zipped it up, swinging it over my shoulder.

I met Faye's steely glare with one of my own. "Before you start blaming Nick for this disaster that tarnished your coven with the elders maybe you should all get your facts straight first. And maybe you want to start thinking about apologising to Nick, because one day, you're all going to need him, and he's going to just leave you all wishing that you hadn't mucked everything up."

I made my way to the door, refusing to run like I wanted to.

"Who do you think should be held responsible Cassie?" Melanie's cool voice stopped me from leaving the room.

I glanced back over my shoulder. "Oh, that's easy." I raised my finger and pointed it directly at Adam. "He did it."

I walked out of the room listening to the disbelieving spluttering of the group.

"You stupid girl!" I heard Susan shriek after me.

I was rounding the corner, and just managed to miss bumping in to Mr. Humphries who was carrying a cup of hot tea in one hand, and a pile of books in the other.

"Miss Blake, where on earth are you going?" he began, taking a step back in order to balance himself.

"Cassie!" I heard a cry echo down the mostly deserted corridor.

Mr Humphries made a quick escape round the corner, quickly skirting past Diana and ignoring the unauthorized gathering in the corridor.

Funny how when its just me all the teachers treat me like any other student regardless of me being in the coven, which of course, they don't know about but they know that we are different, yet when Diana shows up he makes himself promptly disappear.

They must know I'm weaker than the rest, or that I don't want to have any part in it anymore. Because I didn't. I wanted out. I didn't want to be a part of something that was so against everything I stood for.

I stood for truth, equality, trust, care and peace.

The coven, my supposed brothers and sisters stood for lack of faith, lies, inequality and unjustified war.

Diana caught my arm, spinning me round to face her. "You have to stop this Cassie. I'm serious. This guy really will be your downfall."

Funny that, I thought he was perfect.

I shoved her away from me. "So am I am. How can you be so blind to the truth?"

She reeled backwards. "What do you mean? Is this about Adam? Look Cassie, he didn't do it. You may not like it but it was Nick who_"

"Oh just shut up Diana. If you're going to be dense and biased then just get away from me. Go to _your_ coven." I turned away from her and continued down the hall. "Oh, and I want nothing to do with your coven anymore." I tossed over my shoulder.

"You can't do that. You can't just declare yourself void from the coven_"

"I just did." I said coldly, before finally breaking out into the morning sunshine.

It was refreshing, to feel the warm sensation of sun to touch my cheeks. It made me feel grounded.

I hurried out of the school parking lot and strode down the street. I walked and walked until I reached the beach.

My heart did a little flip flop as I desperately wished for Nick to be here. I didn't feel like hanging round waiting for him. I needed him now.

I traipsed my way across the sand, dragging my bag behind me. The quiet repetitive _whooshing_ of the waves was calming and it allowed me the grounding I needed to sort my thoughts out.

I had said to Nick that I was going to bring him to justice. I knew he was innocent. And I knew exactly who was guilty. I just had to prove it.

Faye was going to make it difficult, although that was no surprise. She always made _everything_ difficult.

Diana was going to be a problem too. She was completely besotted with the idea that _her_ Adam could never do anything wrong.

I felt like grabbing her and giving her a good shake, yelling, 'just because you're a saint doesn't mean that the guy you're dating is to!' because its true. The world isn't simple like that. Things aren't black and white.

I ducked my head under the pier; saw that Nick wasn't present, and collapsed in a heap at the back. The sun streaked through the cracks in the wood, making golden stripes on my black tights. I slipped my shoes off and tucked them under my bag, near the corner of the little 'cave'.

I lay back in the sand, digging my covered toes into the sand, propping my hands under my head.

And then there is the whole me-and-Nick-thing. It became painfully obvious to me in class, when I felt a piercing pain through my chest as Faye spat things at me, that I would never be right for Nick. He deserved so much more.

It became blatantly obvious that I liked him, but he wouldn't like me.

A little sob rose in my throat, and I tried to choke it back, but it broke loose anyway. It tore up from my throat in a painful wrench. I curled my body in on its self, rolling onto my side and hiding my face in my arms.

Oh God. It was all happening so fast. I was supposed to have my argument all set up before I started accusing Adam. I was supposed to make Nick come back to school today. I was supposed to keep my meetings with Nick a secret.

But none of these things had worked out.

I let tears roll down my cheeks, and I swiped each one individually off my face as they rolled down my nose and glided down my cheeks.

"Cassie?" I heard a voice ask, and my heart leapt at the sound.

I sat up so fast I almost toppled over to the side.

Nick was kneeling down about five ft away from me. I stared at him a moment, taking in his agonizing good looks.

"Hey." I finally murmured, I crossed my legs, tucking my hands in my lap, nervously twitching my fingers.

He watched me, his brooding eyes analysing me, before he cocked his head to the side. "What happened?" his question was direct, blunt.

It was hard to think of something to say that wasn't a lie but wasn't exactly the truth either.

"Nothing." I settled for retorting quickly, trying to smile. "Why would anything be wrong?"

He shook his head at me, and I knew I hadn't fooled him. "You're here too early for starters." He moved so that he was sat in the sand next to me. "And your eyes are red. You've been crying." There was a deadly moment of silence before he repeated, "What happened?"

I swallowed. "I declared myself void in the coven." I said slowly.

Silence. I listened to the seagulls squawking high up in the sky. I counted 15 squawks before he spoke.

Finally he said, "Right. And why is that?"

I ran my fingers along the sand, raking it roughly with my nails. "I didn't like what they were saying about you_"

"Aw Cassie." He sighed.

"And I didn't like their motives." I quickly finished.

"I told you to leave it alone." He snapped.

I turned to look at him. "I just wanted to help." I whispered, reaching a hand out to place on his muscled arm, but he jerked away.

"But you're not helping!" he shuffled away from me, and I could feel the waves of disapproval rolling of him.

I blinked away tears. Oh God…Faye is right.

"What?" he growled.

I was instantly horrified. I hadn't realised I had spoken out loud.

But I felt strangely compelled to confront him about it. I held my breath a moment, thinking. _Oh just get it over with Cassie_, I told myself gruffly, _then its one less complicated matter on your mind._

"Faye said that you and her had a good history. That she gave you everything_" I was planning on a long rant about what Faye had said but I abruptly cut my self off as I realised something.

She gave you everything.

Oh my God.

"She gave you everything." I repeated, my voice turning into a gasp at the end. "Oh no." I gasped, scrambling backwards on my hands and knees away from him.

He looked slightly startled. He reached towards me. "Cassie_"

"No!" I threw up my hands to fend him off.

No wonder why Faye sounded smug when she said this. She had literally given him everything. "You and Faye have…done it?" I choked in disgust.

He stopped trying to grab me. His arm fell back to his side in defeat. The realisation hit me then. And a searing pain burned my chest. A shimmering line seemed to appear between Nick and me, and it started to shake, almost like it was trying hard not to shatter.

Well whatever the hell it was I was about to shatter enough for the both it and me.

"Oh my god." I whispered. I stared at Nick.

He stared back. Almost helplessly he said, "I'm sorry."

I snapped, although I had no logical reason to. "You're sorry? Wow Nick. Great. Just great. That makes me feel so much better!"

He frowned at me.

"I can't believe you! Have you no class? I mean Faye. Out of all the people there is to have…that with…you choose her!" I yelled.

"Calm down Cassie. You don't know the whole story." He snapped.

"Enlighten me!" I shouted, blind in a fit of rage.

"Why are you getting so wound up about this? It happened ages ago! And it has nothing to do with you!"

Unable to form a rational response I gave a shrill screech, before jumping up off the floor and running from under the pier, abandoning my bag and shoes.

I sprinted along the beach, pounding up the steps, leaping up them two at a time.

I needed to get away.

I charged up the path winding up the cliff side and ran until I reached my house.

I threw open the door and strode up the stairs, ignoring my grandmother's surprised shout.

I collapsed on my bed and sobbed.

Why did this hurt so much? This wasn't a normal reaction to have when you find something like this out. This was just extreme.

I hiccupped and sobbed and gulped air down until I finally ran out of tears.

I kept my head buried in my pillow, not quite ready to face the world yet.

"Cassie?" a hoarse voice said from my doorway.

I quickly scrubbed my hand down my face, getting rid of any traitor tears before flipping over onto my back and beckoning my grandmother in.

She sat on the bed beside me, he old face withered with sympathy and concern. "What's bothering you my dear?"

I blinked, fighting back another round of tears. "Oh Grandma, its just all so complicated." I sighed.

She nodded. "It is hard, being a part of something that has a lot of responsibility. And I know that some of the kids you have to bother with can be very hard to stand sometimes."

I peered at her. "How_"

I chuckled. "I used to have to work with their mother's and father's parents back when I was in the coven. I know how certain families are."

I nodded. "Grandma, if you knew that something was wrong, would you fight to correct it?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "Yes. I would. And if it's worth correcting then it will work out. Life's funny like that." She patted my hand reassuringly.

I smiled. "Grandma, if a…silver string like thing…appeared between you and a person…well, what does it mean?"

My grandmother gasped, and I turned to look at her sharply, afraid that she was having a heart attack or something.

But she was grinning and clapping a hand to her thigh. "My dear, this is marvellous!" she chortled. I blinked uncomprehending at her. "Tell me, is this silver string between you and a boy?"

I nodded, staring at her, stunned by her reaction.

"Oh my goodness. Then it is most likely the silver cord." She beamed at me.

"I'm sorry, the what?" I asked stupidly.

She sighed, rolling her eyes at me. "The sliver cord is something that binds you and a person together, in an intimate fashion. Basically, you and this person are soul mates." She patted my knee, smiling warmly at me. "Now do you see why this is so wonderful?"

I stayed silent as I thought about this. Nick and me…soul mates?

And then I burst into tears.

"Cassie!" My grandma cried, jostling the bed as she jumped in surprise. "What on earth is the matter?"

"Oh grandma, we can't be soul mates. We just can't be!" I wailed, burying my face in my hands.

She wrapped an arm round my back, pulling me close to her side. "And why not, pet?"

I gulped a lungful of air down. "He doesn't love me!"

"What makes you so sure of that?" she rubbed my arm gently.

I looked at her, my vision blurry from tears. "He could never like someone like _me_." I explained, my voice breaking.

"Cassie honey, any boy would be lucky to get a second glance from you." She soothed.

I shook my head before she had time to finish her sentence. "No. Nick deserves someone who will bring him pride and who he will want to be seen with."

"_Nick_?" my Grandmother asked. "The boy that has been kicked out of the coven?"

I swallowed, and then nodded, preparing myself for what I was sure was going to be a negative reaction.

"They did despicable things to that poor boy." She muttered disgustedly.

I blinked at her reaction. "You know…?" I mumbled.

She smiled at me. "I'm an old women, I know everything, and especially the things you don't want me to know."

I smiled weakly.

"I think you need to go sort all this out, and then go find Nick and sort him out to." She chucked me under the chin. "And don't tell your mother, you know how she is with reputation and honour and all that malarkey."

I frowned. "But Nick didn't do anything." I said.

"Of course he didn't. But your Mother won't see sense."

I grumbled. "She can't really say much about honour. Didn't she marry an outsider, which is breaking the rules?"

"Yes, but she married a witch first." My grandma corrected me.

I sighed. "Apple off the same tree Grandma."

She laughed, and I smiled for the first time in what felt like ages.

"Have faith Cassie." She said before she disappeared out the door.

This gave me hope.

I could do this.

And I would.

I fished out my big pad of A3 paper from under my bed and I tipped my felt pens out of my pencil case and onto the floor. I sat crossed legged, thinking of how to approach this task.

I decided on brainstorming everyone's accounts of 'Nick's betrayal' and then I brainstormed Nick's account of what happened. Or from what he told me. I had managed to coax most of the story out of him, and only a few minor things were missing.

Maybe I could get the full thing out of him later…

I then circled everyone's name that could be a suspect of the betrayal. Nick, Adam and Faye's name were the ones I chose.

After about half hour of re-reading each account, I managed to eliminate Faye out of the suspect list (much to my dismay), which left only Adam and Nick's story possible outcomes for being the true betrayer.

They mainly matched, and just as I was about to hurl my entire pad of paper at the wall, I noticed that there was one difference in the account.

Adam claimed to be at his Grandmother's house that was throwing a birthday party for Laurel's grandmother on Tuesday12th June, at the time 5:00 pm till 9:00pm.

Nick claimed to be on the beach along with Faye, Diana, Laurel, Chris, Doug, Sean, Deborah, Adam and myself to celebrate Sean's birthday from the time 4:00pm till 9:00pm.

Now, I remember Adam being at Sean's party, and when I flipped through everyone else's accounts I saw that everyone else saw Adam at the party as well.

It also stated in everyone else's accounts, including my own, that Adam left the party just after we finished the barbeque, which was about 5:00pm, to go get something.

Nobody could remember what.

He returned at 5:45 pm, which meant that he would've had enough time to complete the betrayal, and set everything up for Nick to be framed.

I sat back against my bed, trying to gather my thoughts.

Oh my God…Adam could truly be the betrayer.

_But_, the annoying voice of reason said at the back of my mind, _how would everyone say Nick was the culprit if Adam was the most obvious one?_

I thought for a moment. _Come one Cassie, you did not come all this way to just come up short and not prove Nick's innocence…think girl…_

Their personalities!

That's it -their personalities. Nick is the cold, distant, bad boy with a punk attitude and a license to do as he pleases, while Adam is the princely sociable saint, with an abiding attitude and a reputation to please people.

This meant that people would automatically assume that it was Nick that did the crime and not Adam.

It was just logical.

With a little shriek, I threw my hands up into the air and grinned.

I had done it.

I jumped up off the floor, curling the papers up into a cylinder shape and tucking it under my arm before sprinting along the gloomy landing and down the wooden stairs, my socked feet sliding on the polished wood.

I ran from the house, shouting a quick explanation of my whereabouts to my Grandmother, and then I was off running down towards the beach as fast as my legs would carry me.

I ignored the little stones digging into my shoeless feet as I threw myself round the corner and raced down the cliff path, leading down to the beach.

My feet sunk into the soft sand as I scrambled to get to the pier.

"Nick!" I shouted. "Nick!" I dived under the pier and fell hard on my knees, throwing my hands out to fend off the fall.

The impact raced up my arms, juddering my elbows, but I ignored it, shoving myself up onto the backs of my heels and looking round wildly for Nick.

My heart leapt as I saw him. He was lounging at the back of the pier, his legs stretched out in front of him, and his ankles crossed.

He sat up abruptly as he caught sight of me.

"Nick!" I said, gasping slightly. I scuttled forward on my hands and knees, tripping over my own feet and hands in my hurry.

"Cassie. God, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way did. I'm_" he was speaking quickly, reaching forward to grab my arm.

I smiled at him. "Don't worry. Its okay. Listen, I can make this all go away, just please promise me something." I grasped his hand tightly in my own.

He studied me a moment. "What do you want?" he asked cautiously.

"Meet me on the beach in one hour. Please Nick." I squeezed his hand, my cold fingers clinging to his with desperation.

Almost helplessly, he nodded.

I smiled. "I'll fix this." And then impulsively, I hugged him.

His strong arms held me close, and I took a moment to in hail is agonizingly wonderful smelling cologne before pulling back and staring him in the eye.

"When I get back I have something to tell you." I whispered.

He cupped my cheek, meeting my gaze. "Be careful."

I nodded, and then I jumped up, grabbing my shoes and bag that I had left here earlier.

I jogged along the beach, back up the cliff and then to the bus stop.

I needed to get to that school.

It seemed to take a stupid amount of time for the bus to get here, even though it only took fifteen minutes. Then the bus ride itself dragged out, almost taunting me with each stop the bus made, whether it was at a roundabout or at another bus stop.

I banged my fist against the window in agitation.

"C'mon…" I muttered under my breath.

Finally, the bus spluttered to a stop outside the school and I leapt off, landing with an agile bend of my knees to the pavement.

I charged down the corridors, blocking out any chants of protest at my speed, and burst into our classroom.

"You lot, outside. Now." I commanded, propping the door open with my hip and jerking my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the empty corridor.

The whole coven looked at me as if I was crazy. I probably did look it but I didn't care.

I was on a mission and nothing was going to stop me from completing it. Not a damn thing.

Slowly, they stood up one by one…

Diana…Laurel…Melanie…Chris…Doug…Sean…Susan…Deborah...Faye…

And finally Adam.

He looked terrified. With a mean glow of satisfaction I shot him a small smirk.

They all trooped past me, Deborah got an elbow to my ribs as she passed, but I let it go.

I would get my satisfaction soon enough, I didn't have to be petty about it.

After they had all left the room I turned to the teacher and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry about that." I said, "But its urgent." And then I slammed the door on his reply.

"What is this all about Cassie?" Diana asked, folding her arms over her chest.

I mimicked her action. "You'll see soon enough Diana. Come to the beach. I will explain it all there."

"Since when did you start rapping out thee orders?" Faye hissed at me, placing a hand on her hip, looking at me through narrowed eyes.

Her red fingernails glowed like poisonous talons, but I refused to be intimidated.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Its up to you whether you show up or not. But I strongly advise it." I turned to leave, pretty sure that they would follow me, but just to make sure I half turned back to face them and said, "You pair would certainly want to make it." I directed the statement to the Henderson brothers.

"And why's that?" Chris asked me, his voice guarded.

"Oh." I said simply, "Because I know who caused your sister's death."

Silence.

Bitter silence.

"We already know who killed our sister." Doug snarled, his pose and voice aggressive. "It was that low life- Nick." He spat his name out.

I resisted the urge to slap him round the ear.

"You sure about that? Because I have something that says differently." And then I spun on my heel and walked down the corridor, my bag banging against the back of my knees, sending the same familiar comforting rush of reassurance through my body.

Moments later, I heard hurried footsteps pounding down the corridor after me.

I smiled slightly to myself.

_Got ya_, I thought happily.

It wasn't long until we were all on the beach, and as we all traipsed along the soft sand I scanned the scene for Nick.

My heart leapt, and my stomach did little somersaults as I caught sight of him, sitting there in his black t-shirt and faded blue jeans. Most guys would look plain in this attire but Nick looked godly.

He tensed as he saw our company for the afternoon. I tried to assure him with my eyes, and when he finally looked at me, he did seem to calm down.

I made a big show of sitting down right next to Nick and I steadily watched as the rest of the group sat down in a line about a meter away from us.

There was a moment of silence, before Faye broke it with that sultry purr of hers. "Nick, honey, long time no see." She winked at the boy.

I tensed, expecting Nick to fall for her again, expecting the silver cord to disappear between us, but instead Nick scowled and snapped, "Yeah, well, you're the one that decided to treat me like some kind of contagious disease."

I watched in joyful contentment as the group squirmed and Faye's flirty smile dropped from her dark red lips.

"You wanted to see us Cassie…" Doug prompted impatiently, after what felt like a lifetime of glaring and squirming.

I nodded, tucking my brown hair behind my ears. "I know that this is going to be hard for you and Chris, talking about that terrible day when your sister was killed, but you're accusing the wrong person." I met everyone's eyes before continuing. "I wrote out everyone's account of what happened the day that Kori Henderson, and the skull of Black John was sold to another coven, and I realised that the accusations that you guys were making were completely untrue."

"No_" Deborah began furiously.

I held up a hand to stop her. "Shut up and listen to me."

"Bitch." I heard her muter under her breath, but otherwise she remained quiet.

"I managed to eliminate the suspects down to two people, before I started comparing their accounts. They don't quite match up. That was a massive mistake that the culprit made." I glanced at Adam. He looked away.

_Guilty as charged_, I thought, hoping that I conveyed this message to him through my eyes.

"Adam and Nick were the two suspects that I had chosen, but I can prove that it wasn't Nick that committed any crime against the coven."

"No!" Diana gasped, clapping hand to her mouth.

"Yes." I retorted. "Adam, you claimed to be at your Grandmother's house that was throwing a birthday party for Laurel's grandmother on Tuesday12th June, at the time 5:00 pm till 9:00pm. Correct?" I asked.

"Uh…yeah." He said, rubbing a hand round the back of his neck, in obvious discomfort.

"Nick, you claimed to be on the beach along with Faye, Diana, Laurel, Chris, Doug, Sean, Deborah, myself and _Adam_ to celebrate Sean's birthday from the time 4:00pm till 9:00pm. Correct?" I asked, turning to face him.

He nodded, staring at me. "Correct." He said clearly.

"He would say that_" Deborah started to snap but I chucked a handful of sand at her.

"Now, I remember Adam being at Sean's party, and when I flipped through everyone else's accounts I saw that everyone else also remembered seeing Adam at the party as well. It also stated in everyone else's accounts, including my own, that Adam left the party just after we finished the barbeque, which was about 5:00pm, to go get something. Nobody could remember what. Are we all agreed?" I met Diana's eyes, saw her shocked expression, raised my eyebrows in a silent, almost patronizing '_what's the matter? Having second thoughts about Prince Adam?_'

There was a quiet begrudging groan of agreement from the group. Faye was glaring at me, and I had the distinct feeling that she wished that I would spontaneously combust.

"Adam then returned at 5:45 pm, which meant that he would've had enough time to complete the betrayal, and set everything up for Nick to be framed." I said this with conviction.

Everything exploded then. Shouts rang out. Gasps echoed. Accusations and insults flew round the group.

Nick remained silent.

Adam was looking pale and if I wasn't mistaken, which I'm pretty sure I'm not, he had a thin sheet of sweat covering his brow.

"Adam, would've had enough time to leave the party, take the skull and meet the people from the other coven and sell it and make it back to the party before it ended." The final word of my sentence seemed to draw out, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Melanie shattered the silence with that cool collected voice of hers. "That may be true, but it doesn't explain who killed Kori."

I laughed. "Oh that's easy. When Adam crept into Diana's house to steal the skull, oh, and there's another thing to prove his guiltiness, Adam would be the only one to know where the skull was, since trustworthy Diana would tell her beloved perfect Adam anything. Kori must have seen Adam creeping about and gone to see why he wasn't at the party. She would've seen him take the skull, which of course, she knew was wrong, so he killed her to keep her quiet."

"Oh my God." Diana was moaning.

"No. Just no." Laurel was repeating.

"My little sister." Doug was growling.

"You have no proof to_" Faye started hissing at me, her voice low and menacing.

But Adam interrupted her, screaming, "I did it! I did it! It was me, I did it!"

Everyone froze, including Nick, before whipping round to face Adam.

He was holding his head in his hands, shaking.

"Oh, I think I do." I said to Faye, who glared at me with unabashed hatred.

Diana was sobbing.

"I don't believe it." Susan muttered.

"You asshole!" Deborah snarled at him, leaning forward as if to pounce on him.

"How could you_?" Doug growled, his wild eyes blazing with flat out anger.

"_Our little sister!" Chris finished, bunching his hands into fists.

"Nick is the cold, distant, bad boy with a punk attitude and a license to do as he pleases, while Adam is the princely sociable saint, with an abiding attitude and a reputation to please people. This meant that people would automatically assume that it was Nick that did the crime and not Adam. It was just logical. It's not that surprising that you guys thought this." I ran my hand over Nick's knee, assuring him that this was almost over.

He caught my hand, holding it tightly in his. Warm tingles jittered up my arm.

"So, you see, you guys all owe Nick a huge apology, and a place back in the coven, because it sucks without him." I shot Nick a smile.

He smiled back.

The way his face transformed when he smiled made my stomach tighten excitedly.

"We will hold an official ceremony tomorrow, to welcome Nick back into the coven and to remove Adam from it. Adam, you are the reason our coven has been tarnished amongst the elder generations." Diana gulped the words out harshly from between her sobs.

"Wow Nick. I'm really sorry- we all are- about thinking that you were the culprit." Laurel said sheepishly.

"Whatever." Nick said, staring at me in a way that made my skin warm. "Just leave."

They did. They scattered quickly, effectively leaving us alone.

He moved closer to me, his eyes never leaving mine.

I gulped. "So, I hate to say it but _I told you so_."

He smiled a slow sexy smile at me. "I know. You totally proved everyone wrong. I really owe you Cassie." He moved closer still, so that his body was almost pressing against mine.

I could feel the heat emanating off his defined body and it made it extremely hard to think. "Oh that's okay…I told you that I was going to stick with you to the end." I mumbled, breathing in his heavenly scent.

He lowered his body onto mine, so that I had to bend backwards, pressing myself to the sand. He hovered over me, his lips close to mine.

"Faye's not going to be happy about this." I blurted.

He smiled. "I really don't care about Faye. She can screw herself. All I care about is you. I…I love you Cassie." He dipped his head so that his lips were skimming my neck as he spoke.

I felt a thrill at his words, and a delicate shiver ran through my body.

"I love you to Nick."

I felt him shiver at my confession, and then his lips were on mine, and then…well…my worked exploded in love, passion and contentment.

The silver cord truly was a marvellous thing, even better than justice.

**Story end.**

**And that's it guys. Review?**

**Xxx**


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